Internet server apparatus and program causing a server apparatus to implement functions of preparation processing for direct connection of an appliance in a private network and a mobile terminal outside the private network

ABSTRACT

A server apparatus, a mobile terminal, an electric appliance, a communication system, a communication method and a program for notifying a mobile terminal user in the open of the cause of a failure of P2P connection. In a communication system, an electric appliance ( 101 ), a server apparatus ( 103 ) and a mobile terminal ( 105 ) each detect a failure in preparation for P2P connection between the electric appliance ( 101 ) and the mobile terminal ( 105 ). When the electric appliance ( 101 ) detects the failure, it notifies the mobile terminal ( 105 ) of the failure via the server apparatus ( 103 ). When the server apparatus ( 103 ) detects the failure, it notifies the mobile terminal ( 105 ) of the failure. The mobile terminal ( 105 ) notifies the user of the failure detected by the mobile terminal itself or of the failure notified of by the server apparatus ( 103 ).

This is a divisional application of application Ser. No. 11/719,281filed May 14, 2007, which is a national stage of PCT/JP2005/020873 filedNov. 14, 2005, which is based on Japanese Application No. 2004-332021filed Nov. 16, 2004, the entire contents of each which are incorporatedby reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a server apparatus, mobile terminal,electrical appliance, communication system, and communication method andprogram.

Background Art

In recent years, the popularity of the continuous connection environmentof the Internet has continued to grow, and various electrical appliancesare being connected to a network. Such company or home networkenvironments (hereinafter referred to as “private network”) usuallyaccess the Internet via a router having NAT (Network AddressTranslation)/NAPT (Network Address Port Translation) functions.

A user can connect directly (P2P connection) from outside the privatenetwork (hereinafter referred to as “out-of-house”) to such electricalappliances by means of a mobile terminal, and it is possible to use thecontents which are stored in the electrical appliances andremote-control the electrical appliances, and also, it is possible thatservice providers that support the P2P connection between the mobileterminal and the electrical appliances, will appear.

In order to establish a P2P connection from out-of-house mobileterminals to electrical appliances inside the private network(hereinafter referred to as “in-house”), translation of the addressusing NAT is required, for example, it is necessary to add the entry ofthe in-house electrical appliances, in other words, the address and theport translation table of the electrical appliances to a NAT router asthat described in Patent Document 1.

A manual port forwarding setting which uses static port mapping, and amethod which uses a UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) gateway function aregiven as methods of adding an entry of the in-house electricalappliances to a NAT router.

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-345841

Disclosure of Invention Problems to be Solved by the Invention

However, in collective housing such as condominium building or the like,a private network accesses the Internet via a plurality of NAT routers.Consequently, with the method of adding the entries of in-houseelectrical appliances to a NAT router, as described above, cases occurwhere a P2P connection from the out-of-house mobile terminal to thein-house electrical appliances cannot be established. Also, in spite ofthe fact that the P2P connection from the out-of-house mobile terminalto the in-house electrical appliances can be established at thebeginning, when the connection environment of the private network to theInternet change, cases occur where the P2P connection can no longer beestablished. There is a problem that a user of the out-of-house mobileterminal cannot know the causes for such P2P connection failure. Inparticular, this becomes a problem when access to the Internet isprovided via a different type of network, such as a mobile phone.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a serverapparatus, mobile terminal, electrical appliance, communication system,and communication method and program that report the cause of a P2Pconnection failure to a user of an out-of-house mobile terminal.

Means for Solving the Problem

The server apparatus of the present invention performs preparationprocessing for direct connection between an electrical appliance insidea private network connected to the Internet, and a mobile terminaloutside the private network, and this server apparatus employs aconfiguration having: a detecting section that detects a failure in thepreparation processing for direct connection between the electricalappliance and the mobile terminal; and a reporting section that reportsinformation showing the failure detected by the detecting section, tothe mobile terminal.

The mobile terminal of the present invention is outside a privatenetwork and establishes direct connection to an electrical applianceinside a private network connected to the Internet, and this mobileterminal employs a configuration having: a detecting section thatdetects a failure in preparation processing for direct connectionbetween the electrical appliance and the mobile terminal or receivesinformation showing the failure; and a reporting section that reportsthe information showing the failure to a user.

The electrical appliance of the present invention employs aconfiguration having: a NAT setting control section that controlssettings of a NAT router; and a NAT setting information reportingsection that, when the NAT setting control section fails to control thesettings of the NAT router, reports information showing the failure to aserver apparatus.

Advantageous Effect of the Invention

According to the present invention, by detecting a failure in thepreparation processing of a P2P connection between an electricalappliance and a mobile terminal and reporting information showing thedetected failure to the mobile terminal, it is possible to report thecause of the P2P connection failure to the user of the out-of-housemobile terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a communicationsystem according to embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of theelectrical appliance shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of theserver apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of themobile terminal shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing the sequence of the processing forpreparing the P2P connection between the electrical appliance and themobile terminal;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the communicationsystem according to embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of theserver apparatus shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of themobile terminal shown in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of aconnection accepting apparatus shown in FIG. 6.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Now, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detailwith reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments will bedescribed assuming a mobile phone (hereinafter referred to as “mobileterminal”) that is provided with function for accessing the Internet andthat is capable of receiving and sending emails and viewing web pages.In the present embodiments, components having the same functions aredesignated by the same reference numerals and overlapping descriptionsthereof will be omitted.

Embodiment 1

As shown in FIG. 1, in communication system 100 according to embodiment1 of the present invention, mainly, the Internet network and a mobilephone network are connected by gateway 104, and the Internet network isconnected to a private network. The private network is comprised ofelectrical appliance 101 and NAT router 102, and the like.

Electrical appliance 101 is generally called appliance for the Internetand is an electrical household appliance having functions for accessingthe Internet, and is connected to NAT router 102. Also, it may also beconnected to various other electrical appliances (not illustrated).

NAT router 102 is connected to electrical appliance 101, and allocates aprivate address to electrical appliance 101 to which it is connected,and relays the connection between electrical appliance 101 and theInternet network by carrying out cross-translation of the global IPaddress and the private address allocated to the private network. SinceNAT router 102 is oftentimes an invisible existence in the receptionsand transmissions between electrical appliance 101 and Internet serverapparatus 103, and there are cases where electrical appliance 101 andserver apparatus 103 look like they are communicating directly with eachother.

Server apparatus 103 is provided in the Internet network, and as aservice provider, establishes sessions with a plurality of electricalappliances, and holds and manages the established sessions. Similarly,as a service provider, server apparatus 103 establishes sessions withmobile terminal 105.

Gateway 104 carries out protocol conversion, address translation and thelike of the packets transmitted from and received by mobile terminal105, and realizes session establishment and data communication frommobile terminal 105 to server apparatus 103.

Mobile terminal 105 is connected to the mobile phone network by wirelessconnection to establish a session with server apparatus 103 which hasestablished a session with electrical appliance 101, and acquiresinformation regarding the private network, via server apparatus 103.Then, based on the acquired information, direct connection (hereinafterreferred to as “P2P”) communication is established with electricalappliance 101.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration ofelectrical appliance 101 shown in FIG. 1. In this figure, NAT controlsection 111 controls the settings of NAT router 102 when the power isturned on, to thereby send a packet, to be sent to one port number fromthe Internet, to electrical appliance 101 itself. NAT control section111 controls the settings of NAT router 102 and acquires the global IPaddress on the Internet-side of NAT router 102. The concrete procedurefor acquiring concrete settings and the global IP address of NAT router102 utilizes methods such as UPnP (Universal Plug and Play). The settinginformation and the global IP address of NAT router 102 (hereinaftersimply referred to as “address information”) are outputted to NATsetting information reporting section 112.

Electrical appliance 101 does not control NAT router 102, but the usersets in advance NAT router 102 and registers the setting information inelectrical appliance 101, and therefore, the registered settinginformation of NAT router 102 may be reported to server apparatus 103.

NAT setting information reporting section 112 reports the settinginformation and the address information of NAT router 102 outputted fromNAT control section 111, to server apparatus 103, via server connectioncontrol section 114 (described later).

Upon receiving the packet transmitted from mobile terminal 105, P2Pconnection control section 113 carries out transmission and reception ofpackets to/from mobile terminal 105 to confirm connectivity, and reportsthis information to server apparatus 103 via server connection controlsection 114.

Server connection control section 114 is an interface that controls theconnection with server apparatus 103 and mediates the communicationbetween NAT setting information reporting section 112 and serverapparatus 103, and the communication between P2P connection controlsection 113 and server apparatus 103.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of serverapparatus 103 shown in FIG. 1. In this figure, electrical applianceconnection control section 121 is an interface that mediates theconnection with electrical appliance 101, and controls the communicationbetween NAT setting information receiving section 122 and electricalappliance 101, and the communication between control check section 123and electrical appliance 101.

NAT setting information receiving section 122 receives the settinginformation and address information of NAT router 102, from electricalappliance 101, and reports the received information to connection checksection 123. Also, upon receiving the report from server apparatus 103that control for the settings of NAT router 102 has failed, NAT settinginformation receiving section 122 stores in connection informationstorage section 124 the fact that connection to electrical appliance 101is not possible.

Connection check section 123 attempts to connect to electrical appliance101 based on the setting information and the address information of NATrouter 102 reported from NAT setting information receiving section 122.If connection to electrical appliance 101 is successful, connectioncheck section 123 stores the setting information and address informationof NAT router 102 in connection information storage section 124, asconnection information.

Terminal connection control section 125 is an interface that controlsthe connection with mobile terminal 105, and mediates the communicationbetween connection information storage section 124 and mobile terminal105, and the communication between connection information reportingsection 126 and mobile terminal 105. More concretely, when it acceptsthe connection from mobile terminal 105 to establish a session, terminalconnection control section 125 reports this to connection informationstorage section 124. Also, a request to connect from mobile terminal 105to electrical appliance 101, as well as acquired identificationinformation of electrical appliance 101 to which connection is desired,are reported to connection information storage section 124.

Connection information reporting section 126 acquires connectioninformation for the electrical appliance from connection informationstorage section 124 which has acquired the identification information ofelectrical appliance 101, and reports the acquired connectioninformation to mobile terminal 105, via terminal connection controlsection 125.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of mobileterminal 105 shown in FIG. 1. In this view, server connection controlsection 131 is an interface that controls the connection to serverapparatus 103, and mediates the communication between connectioninformation receiving section 132 and server apparatus 103 and thecommunication between status managing section 134 and server apparatus103.

Status managing section 134 transmits the identification information ofelectrical appliance 101 to which connection is desired, to serverapparatus 103, via server connection control section 131. If theconnection of server connection control section 131 to server apparatus103 is successful, status managing section 134 receives the connectionsuccess report from server connection control section 131.

When connection information receiving section 132 acquires theconnection information for electrical appliance 101 to which connectionis desired, from server apparatus 103 via server connection controlsection 131, it reports the connection information to P2P connectioncontrol section 133, and reports the acquisition of the connectioninformation to status managing section 134.

P2P connection control section 133 attempts to connect by transmittingpackets to electrical appliance 101 based on the connection informationacquired from connection information receiving section 132. If thepackets transmitted from P2P connection control section 133 arecorrectly transmitted to electrical appliance 101 by NAT router 102 in aprivate network, P2P connection control section 133 receives andtransmits packets to and from P2P connection control section 113 ofelectrical appliance 101 to confirm connectivity with electricalappliance 101 and reports this information to status managing section134.

Status managing section 134 receives a report from P2P connectioncontrol section 133 that connection with electrical appliance 101 issuccessful, and displays the fact that connection has been successful ondisplay section 135.

Next, a description will be given of the sequence of processing forpreparing the P2P connection between electrical appliance 101 and mobileterminal 105 in the communication system having the above configuration,using FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, in step (hereinafter referred to as “ST”) 141,electrical appliance 101 controls the setting of NAT router 102 andacquires the address information of NAT router 102 (global IP address onthe Internet side), and in ST 142, it reports the acquired settinginformation and address information to server apparatus 103.

In ST 143, server apparatus 103 attempts to connect to electricalappliance 101 based on the setting information and address information(connection information) of NAT router 102, acquired from electricalappliance 101. If the connection is successful, server apparatus 103stores the connection information.

In ST 144, mobile terminal 105 is connected to server apparatus 103, andtransmits the identification information of electrical appliance 101 towhich connection is desired, to server apparatus 103. In ST 145, serverapparatus 103 searches the connection information for electricalappliance 101 stored inside server apparatus 103, based on theidentification information acquired from mobile terminal 105, andtransmits the connection information to mobile terminal 105.

in ST 146, mobile terminal 105 attempts a P2P connection to electricalappliance 101, based on the connection information for electricalappliance 101 acquired from server apparatus 103. If the connection issuccessful, in ST 147, electrical appliance 101 reports the success ofthe P2P connection to mobile terminal 105, to server apparatus 103.Next, in ST 148, mobile terminal 105 reports, to server apparatus 103,the fact that the P2P connection to electrical appliance 101 has beensuccessful.

Herein, a description has been given where, in ST 141 and ST 142, theconnection information for electrical appliance 101 is registered inadvance from electrical appliance 101 to server apparatus 103, and in ST144 and ST 145, the registered connection information is reported fromserver apparatus 103 to mobile terminal 105, in accordance with theconnection from mobile terminal 105 to server apparatus 103. However,server apparatus 103 may request the connection information fromelectrical appliance 101, after establishing connection with mobileterminal 105. In this case, a session is established between serverapparatus 103 and electrical appliance 101, and if necessary, a message(request message) for requesting connection information is transmittedto electrical appliance 101. Alternatively, if necessary, serverapparatus 103 may call electrical appliance 101 and transmit the requestmessage to electrical appliance 101.

Next, the steps for when P2P connection between electrical appliance 101and mobile terminal 105 is not successful, will be described withreference to a number of possible cases. Possible cases include a casewhere mobile terminal 105 fails to connect to server apparatus 103, acase where server apparatus 103 fails to acquire the connectioninformation for electrical appliance 101, a case where electricalappliance 101 fails to control the settings of NAT router 102, a casewhere server apparatus 103 fails to confirm the connection withelectrical appliance 101, and further, and a case where mobile terminal105 fails to establish a P2P connection with electrical appliance 101.

First, a description will be given of a case where mobile terminal 105fails to connect to server apparatus 103. If server connection controlsection 131 of mobile terminal 105 attempts to connect to serverapparatus 103 and this connection fails, server connection controlsection 131 of mobile terminal 105 reports the fact that connection toserver apparatus 103 has failed, to status managing section 134. Herein,server connection control section 131 functions as a detecting section.

In this case, possible reason for the connection failure may includefailure in the network environment (corresponding to the mobile phonenetwork in the present embodiment) of mobile terminal 105 itself,failure in the Internet environment, and failure of server apparatus103. More detailed reasons for these failures (including the point wherethe failure occurred, reason the failure occurred, etc) can be estimatedby acquiring error information from gateway 104.

Status managing section 134 of mobile terminal 105 reports to the userthe failure of connection with server apparatus 103, by displaying thison display section 135. At this time, the estimated reason as describedabove may be displayed on display section 135.

Next, a description will be given of a case where server apparatus 103fails to acquire connection information for electrical appliance 101.Mobile terminal 105 is connected to server apparatus 103 to transmit theidentification information of electrical appliance to which connectionis desired, to server apparatus 103.

At this time, when the connection information for above electricalappliance 101 is not stored in connection information storage section124 and the connection information cannot be transmitted to mobileterminal 105, server apparatus 103 reports the failure of acquisition ofthe connection information to mobile terminal 105. Here, connectioninformation storage section 124 functions as a detecting section.

In this case, possible reasons for the failure of acquisition ofconnection information may include that the connection information forabove electrical appliance 101 is not registered and that aboveelectrical appliance 101 could not be called.

On the other hand, in mobile terminal 105, status managing section 134receives a report that acquisition of the connection information fromserver apparatus 103 has failed, and status managing section 134 reportsthis to the user by displaying this on display section 135. At thistime, the estimated reason may also be displayed on display section 135.

Next, a description will be given of a case where electrical appliance101 fails to control the settings of NAT router 102. NAT control section111 of electrical appliance 101 controls the settings of NAT router 102,and when NAT control section 111 fails in this setting control, NATsetting information reporting section 112 reports this setting controlfailure to server apparatus 103. Here, NAT control section 111 functionsas a detecting section.

In this case, possible reasons for the setting control failure mayinclude that NAT router 102 does not support the NAT control schemeemployed by electrical appliance 101 such as UPnP.

On the other hand, in server apparatus 103, NAT setting informationreceiving section 122 receives a report of the failure in the settingcontrol in NAT router 102 from electrical appliance 101, and stores thefact that connection to above electrical appliance 101 is not possible,in connection information storage section 124.

Here, when mobile terminal 105 is connected to server apparatus 103 andtransmits the identification information of electrical appliance 101 towhich connection is desired, to server apparatus 103, server apparatus103 searches connection information storage section 124 and transmitsinformation indicating that above electrical appliance 101 has failed incontrolling the settings of NAT router 102, to mobile terminal 105.

In mobile terminal 105, connection information receiving section 132receives a report from server apparatus 103 that setting control hasfailed, and status managing section 134 reports the user by displayingthis on display section 135. At this time, the estimated reason may bedisplayed on display section 135.

Next, a description will be given of a case where server apparatus 103has failed to confirm the connection with electrical appliance 101.Electrical appliance 101 controls the setting of NAT router 102, andreports the setting information and address information of NAT router102 to server apparatus 103.

In server apparatus 103, NAT setting information receiving section 122receives the setting information and the address information of NATrouter 102 from electrical appliance 101, and based on this information,connection check section 123 attempts to connect to electrical appliance101.

At this time, if connection to electrical appliance 101 fails,connection check section 123 stores in connection information storagesection 124 information indicating that electrical appliance 101 hasperformed setting control for NAT router 102 but connection to thiselectrical appliance 101 is not possible. Here, connection check section123 functions as a detecting section.

In this case, possible reasons for the connection failure to electricalappliance 101 may include problems arising from the network environmentat the user's home, including the presence of a plurality of NAT routersin the private network and the fact that the Internet service provider(ISP), to which the user subscribes, assigns a private address to theuser's home and the private network is not directly connected to theInternet.

Here, when mobile terminal 105 is connected to server apparatus 103 andtransmits the identification information of electrical appliance 101 towhich connection is desired, to server apparatus 103, server apparatus103 searches connection information storage section 124 and thustransmits to mobile terminal 105, information indicating that aboveelectrical appliance 101 has performed setting control for NAT router102 but connection to the above electrical appliance is not possible.

In mobile terminal 105, connection information receiving section 132receives from server apparatus 103, the information indicating thatabove electrical appliance 101 has performed setting control for NATrouter 102 but connection to above electrical appliance 101 is notpossible. Status managing section 134 reports this to the user bydisplaying this on display section 135. At this time, the estimatedreason is displayed on display section 135.

Next, a description will be given of a case where mobile terminal 105fails to establish P2P connection with electrical appliance 101. Fromthe sequence of processing until when the P2P connection betweenelectrical appliance 101 and mobile terminal 105 shown in FIG. 5 issuccessful, the processing from ST 141˜ST 145 is carried out, and P2Pconnection control section 133 of mobile terminal 105 attempts toestablish a P2P connection to electrical appliance 101, based on theconnection information for electrical appliance 101. If this connectionfails, P2P connection control section 133 of mobile terminal 105 reportsto status managing section 134 that P2P connection to electricalappliance 101 has failed. Here, P2P connection control section 133functions as a detecting section.

In this case, the reason for the P2P connection failure is the same asthe reason described when server apparatus 103 fails to confirm theconnection to electrical appliance 101. In other words, possible reasonmay include problems arising from the network environment at the user'shome, including the presence of a plurality of NAT routers in theprivate network and the fact that the Internet service provider (ISP),to which the user subscribes, assigns a private address to the user'shome and the private network is not directly connected to the Internet.Also, another possibility is that the private network environment haschanged after the connection information for electrical appliance 101 isreceived.

Status managing section 134 reports the user by displaying the fact thatthe P2P connection failed, on display section 135. At this time, theestimated reason may be displayed on display section 135.

According to such embodiment 1, in the processing sequence of P2Pconnection between the mobile terminal and the electrical appliance, byreporting to the user of the mobile terminal in which of the processingsequences lies the cause for the P2P connection failure, it is possibleto take measures such as changing the setting of the private network bythe user, to thereby eliminate the cause for the user's failure toestablish a P2P connection.

Embodiment 2

Communication system 200 according to embodiment 2 of the presentinvention has essentially the same configuration as the communicationsystem according to embodiment 1. However, as shown in FIG. 6, theservice provider contains a connection accepting apparatus. In FIG. 6,if the P2P connection between electrical appliance 101 and mobileterminal 152 is successful, server apparatus 151 receives a report fromboth electrical appliance 101 and mobile terminal 152 that the P2Pconnection is successful, and issues an electronic certificate, whichcertifies that both devices can establish a P2P connection, andtransmits it to mobile terminal 152.

Mobile terminal 152 receives the certificate transmitted from serverapparatus 151 and stores it. When the mobile terminal user performs userregistration with the service provider, mobile terminal 152 is connectedto connection accepting apparatus 153 and transmits the certificate itstores to connection accepting apparatus 153.

Connection accepting apparatus 153 receives the certificate transmittedfrom mobile terminal 152, and checks that the received certificate isissued by server apparatus 151, and that mobile terminal 152 is capableof establishing the P2P connection with electrical appliance 101. If thecertificate is found to be correct, registration of the mobile terminaluser is carried out.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of serverapparatus 151 shown in FIG. 6. In this figure, status managing section161 acquires the P2P connection success report transmitted fromelectrical appliance 101, which could establish a P2P connection withmobile terminal 152, via electrical appliance connection control section121. Also, it acquires the P2P connection success report transmittedfrom mobile terminal 152, which could establish a P2P connection withelectrical appliance 101, via terminal connection control section 125.If status managing section 161 confirms the acquisition of the P2Pconnection success reports transmitted from both electrical appliance101 and mobile terminal 152, this confirmation is reported to electroniccertificate issuing section 162.

Upon receiving the confirmation that status managing section 161 hasacquired the P2P connection success reports from both electricalappliance 101 and mobile terminal 152, electronic certificate issuingsection 162 issues an electronic certificate which certifies that bothdevices are capable of establishing a P2P connection, and transmits theissued certificate to mobile terminal 152, via terminal connectioncontrol section 125.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of mobileterminal 152 shown in FIG. 6. In this figure, certificate storagesection 171 acquires the certificate transmitted from server apparatus151, via server connection control section 131 and stores the acquiredcertificate.

When the user performs user registration with the service provider,registration control section 172 reads out the certificate stored incertificate storage section 171 and transmits the read certificate toconnection accepting apparatus 153, via server connection controlsection 131.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration ofconnection accepting apparatus 153 shown in FIG. 6. In this figure,terminal connection control section 181 is an interface that controlsthe connection to mobile terminal 152, and mediates communicationbetween electronic certificate check section 182 and mobile terminal152, and the communication between P2P connection service section 184and mobile terminal 152.

When electronic certificate check section 182 receives the certificatetransmitted from mobile terminal 152, via terminal connection controlsection 181, it cheeks whether the received certificate has been issuedby server apparatus 151, and whether mobile terminal 152 is capable ofP2P connection with electrical appliance 101, in other words, it checkswhether the certificate is correct. When the certificate is correct, thecertificate is reported to user data managing section 183. On the otherhand, when the certificate is not issued by server apparatus 151, orwhen mobile terminal 152 is not able to establishing a P2P connectionwith electrical appliance 101 (in other words, when the certificate isincorrect), this is reported to mobile terminal 152.

User data managing section 183 registers the user information based onthe content of the certificate reported from electronic certificatecheck section 182.

Upon receiving a P2P connection request from mobile terminal 152 thathas finished user registration, via terminal connection control section181, P2P connection service section 184 checks whether the userinformation of mobile terminal 152 that made the P2P connection requestis registered in user data managing section 183, and provides P2Pconnection service only to mobile terminal 152 whose user information isregistered.

In this way, mobile terminal 152 can check whether P2P connection toelectrical appliance 101 is possible before user registration isperformed in connection accepting apparatus 153, so that it is possibleto prevent the situation where P2P connection with electrical appliance101 cannot be established after user registration in connectionaccepting apparatus 153 has been finished. However, when the Internetconnection environment of the private network changes after userregistration, it is necessary to perform connectivity check byperforming user registration again, for example.

According to embodiment 2, the mobile terminal user performs userregistration with the service provider, using a certificate whichcertifies that a P2P connection can be established between the mobileterminal and the electrical appliance, so that it is possible to preventthe situation where the P2P connection between the mobile terminal andthe electrical appliance cannot be established after user registrationhas been finished.

In the present embodiment, although the connection accepting apparatushas been described as a device apart from the server apparatus, thepresent invention is not limited to this, and the function of theconnection accepting apparatus may be incorporated in the serverapparatus.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, an Internet serverapparatus performs preparation processing for direct connection betweenan electrical appliance inside a private network connected to theInternet, and a mobile terminal outside the private network, and thisserver apparatus includes: a detecting section that detects a failure inthe preparation processing for direct connection between the electricalappliance and the mobile terminal; and a reporting section that reportsinformation showing the failure detected by the detecting section, tothe mobile terminal.

According to this configuration, by detecting a failure in thepreparation processing for direct connection between the electricalappliance and the mobile terminal and reporting information showing thedetected failure to the mobile terminal, it is possible to report thecause of the failure to the user from the mobile terminal.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the serverapparatus of the above aspect, the detecting section detects the failurein the preparation processing for direct connection between theelectrical appliance and the mobile terminal by receiving a reportshowing a failure of the electrical appliance in controlling settings ofa NAT router provided in the private network.

According to this configuration, by reporting to the mobile terminal thefailure of the electrical appliance in controlling the settings of theNAT router in the preparation processing for direct connection betweenthe electrical appliance and the mobile terminal, it is possible toreport this information to the user from the mobile terminal.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the serverapparatus of the above aspect further has a receiving section thatreceives setting information and address information of the NAT routerprovided in the private network from the electrical appliance, and, whenthe server apparatus attempts to connect to the electrical appliancebased on the setting information and address information of the NATrouter received by the receiving section, the detecting section detectsa failure of the connection.

According to this configuration, by reporting to the mobile terminal thefailure of direct connection upon an attempt at direct connection to theelectrical appliance in the preparation processing for direct connectionbetween the electrical appliance and the mobile terminal, it is possibleto report this information to the user from the mobile terminal.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the serverapparatus of the above aspect further has a storage section that storessetting information and address information of a NAT router provided inthe private network, as connection information for the electricalappliance, and the detecting section detects a failure of the storagesection in acquiring the connection information by confirming that theconnection information for an electrical appliance to which connectionfrom the mobile terminal is desired, is not stored in the storagesection.

According to this configuration, in the preparation processing fordirect connection between the electrical appliance and the mobileterminal, it is possible to confirm that the connection information forthe electrical appliance to which connection from the mobile terminal isdesired, is not stored in the storage section, and report the failure ofthe storage section in acquiring the connection information to themobile terminal.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the serverapparatus of the above aspect further has: a status managing sectionthat receives from the electrical appliance a report of successfuldirect connection to the mobile terminal and acquires from the mobileterminal a report of successful direct connection to the electricalappliance; a certificate issuing section that, when the status managingsection acquires the reports of successful direct connection from theelectrical appliance and the mobile terminal, issues an electroniccertificate that certifies that direct connection to the electricalappliance and the mobile terminal is possible; and a transmittingsection that transmits the certificate issued by the certificate issuingsection to the mobile terminal.

According to this configuration, it is possible to issue a certificatewhich certifies that direct connection between the electrical applianceand the mobile terminal is possible upon receipt of a report ofsuccessful direct connection from both the electrical appliance and themobile terminal that have successfully established direct connectionbetween them.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the serverapparatus of the above aspect further has: a check section that checkswhether the certificate transmitted from the mobile terminal is issuedby the server apparatus and whether direct connection to an electricalappliance to which connection from the mobile terminal is desired, ispossible; and a user data managing section that, when the check sectiondecides that the certificate is issued by the server apparatus and thatdirect connection to the electrical appliance to which connection fromthe mobile terminal is desired, is possible, registers user informationof a user of the mobile terminal.

According to this configuration, by registering user information when itis checked that the certificate has been issued by the server apparatusand that direct connection to the electrical appliance to whichconnection from the mobile terminal is desired, is possible, it ispossible to prevent the situation where the mobile terminal and theelectrical appliance cannot establish direct connection between themafter user information registration.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, a mobileterminal is outside a private network and establishes direct connectionto an electrical appliance inside a private network connected to theInternet, and this mobile terminal has: a detecting section that detectsa failure in preparation processing for direct connection between theelectrical appliance and the mobile terminal or receives informationshowing the failure; and a reporting section that reports theinformation showing the failure to a user.

According to this configuration, it is possible to detect a failure inthe preparation processing for direct connection to the electricalappliance, or receive information showing the failure, and report thisinformation showing the failure, to the user.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the mobileterminal of the aspect, upon an attempt at connection to the serverapparatus, the detecting section detects a failure of the connection.

According to this configuration, in the preparation processing fordirect connection between the electrical appliance and the mobileterminal, by detecting the failure of direct connection upon an attemptat direct connection to the server apparatus, it is possible to reportfailed connection to the server apparatus to the user.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the mobileterminal of the above aspect, upon an attempt at direct connection tothe electrical appliance, the detecting section detects a failure of thedirect connection.

According to this configuration, in the preparation processing fordirect connection between the electrical appliance and the mobileterminal, by detecting the failure of direct connection upon an attemptat direct connection to the electrical appliance, it is possible toreport failed connection to the electrical appliance to the user.

According to an tenth aspect of the present invention, the mobileterminal of the above aspect further has a transmitting section that,when direct connection to the electrical appliance is successful,transmits a report of successful direct connection to the serverapparatus.

According to this configuration, by sending to the server apparatus, areport of successful direct connection to the electrical appliance, theserver apparatus can recognize that the mobile terminal and theelectrical appliance can establish direct connection.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, the mobileterminal of the above aspect further has: a certificate storage sectionthat stores an electronic certificate transmitted from a serverapparatus; and a registration control section that performs userregistration with a service provider which provides direct connectionservice with the electrical appliance inside the private network, byusing the electronic certificate stored in the certificate storagesection.

According to this configuration, by performing user registration with aservice provider which provides direct connection service with theelectrical appliance inside the private network, by using the electroniccertificate transmitted from the server apparatus, it is possible toprevent the situation where the mobile terminal and the electricalappliance cannot establish direct connection between them after userregistration.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, an electricalappliance has: a NAT setting control section that controls settings of aNAT router; and a NAT setting information reporting section that, whenthe NAT setting control section fails to control the settings of the NATrouter, reports information showing the failure to a server apparatus.

According to this configuration, in the preparation processing fordirect connection between the electrical appliance and the mobileterminal, by reporting to the server apparatus information showing afailure in NAT router setting control, it is possible to report to themobile terminal user that the setting control for the NAT router hasfailed, via the server apparatus.

According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, theelectrical appliance of the above aspect further has a transmittingsection that, when direct connection to a mobile terminal outside aprivate network is successful, transmits a report of successful directconnection to the server apparatus.

According to this configuration, by transmitting to the server apparatusa report of successful direct connection to the mobile terminal, theserver apparatus can recognize that the mobile terminal and theelectrical appliance can establish a direct connection.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, acommunication system has: an electrical appliance inside a privatenetwork connected to the Internet; a mobile terminal outside the privatenetwork; and an Internet server apparatus that performs preparationprocessing for direct connection between the electrical appliance andthe mobile terminal, and, in this communication system, the mobileterminal receives from the server apparatus information showing afailure in the preparation processing for direct connection between theelectrical appliance and the mobile terminal and reports the receivedinformation to a user.

According to this configuration, by detecting a failure in thepreparation processing for direct connection between the electricalappliance and the mobile terminal and reporting information showing thedetected failure to the mobile terminal, it is possible to report to theuser the cause of the failure from the mobile terminal.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, acommunication method includes: a detecting step of detecting in anInternet server apparatus, the Internet server apparatus performingpreparation processing for direct connection between an electricalappliance inside a private network connected to the Internet and amobile terminal outside the private network, a failure in thepreparation processing for direct connection between the electricalappliance and the mobile terminal; a reporting step of reportinginformation showing the failure detected by the server apparatus in thedetecting step to the mobile terminal; a receiving step of receiving atthe mobile terminal the information reported from the server apparatus;and a reporting step of reporting the information received in thereceiving step to a mobile terminal user.

According to this method, by detecting a failure in the preparationprocessing for direct connection between the electrical appliance andthe mobile terminal and reporting information showing the detectedfailure to the mobile terminal, it is possible to report to the user thecause of the failure from the mobile terminal.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, a programcauses a computer in a server apparatus to implement functions of: adetecting section that detects a failure in preparation processing fordirect connection between an electrical appliance inside a privatenetwork connected to the Internet, and a mobile terminal outside theprivate network; and a reporting section that reports informationshowing the failure detected by the detecting section to the mobileterminal.

According to this program, by detecting a failure in the preparationprocessing for direct connection between the electrical appliance andthe mobile terminal and reporting information showing the detectedfailure to the mobile terminal, it is possible to report to the user thecause of the failure from the mobile terminal.

According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, a programcauses a computer in a mobile terminal to implement functions of: adetecting section that detects a failure in preparation processing fordirect connection between an electrical appliance inside a privatenetwork connected to the Internet, and a mobile terminal outside theprivate network; and a reporting section that reports informationshowing the failure detected by the detecting section to a user.

According to this program, it is possible to detect a failure in thepreparation processing for direct connection between the electricalappliance and the mobile terminal and report information showing thedetected failure to the user.

According to a eighteenth aspect of the present invention, a programthat causes a computer in an electrical appliance to implement functionsof: a NAT setting control section that controls settings of a NATrouter; and a NAT setting information reporting section that, when theNAT setting control section fails in controlling the settings of the NATrouter, reports information showing the failure to a server apparatus.

According to this program, in the preparation processing for directconnection between the electrical appliance and the mobile terminal, byreporting to the server apparatus information showing a failure in theNAT router setting control, it is possible to report to the mobileterminal user the failure of the NAT router setting control via theserver apparatus.

The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No.2004-332021, filed on Nov. 16, 2004, the entire content of which isexpressly incorporated by reference herein.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The server apparatus, mobile terminal, electrical appliance,communication system, communication method and program according to thepresent invention can be applied to appliance for the Internets, mobilephones, etc.

1. An Internet server apparatus that performs preparation processing fordirect connection between an electrical appliance inside a privatenetwork connected to the Internet, and a mobile terminal outside theprivate network, the server apparatus comprising: a detecting sectionthat detects a failure in the preparation processing for directconnection between the electrical appliance and the mobile terminal; anda reporting section that reports information showing the failuredetected by the detecting section, to the mobile terminal.
 2. The serverapparatus according to claim 1, wherein the detecting section detectsthe failure in the preparation processing for direct connection betweenthe electrical appliance and the mobile terminal by receiving a reportshowing a failure of the electrical appliance in controlling settings ofa NAT router provided in the private network.
 3. The server apparatusaccording to claim 1, further comprising a receiving section thatreceives setting information and address information of the NAT routerprovided in the private network from the electrical appliance, wherein,when the server apparatus attempts to connect to the electricalappliance based on the setting information and address information ofthe NAT router received by the receiving section, the detecting sectiondetects a failure of the connection.
 4. The server apparatus accordingto claim 1, further comprising a storage section that stores settinginformation and address information of a NAT router provided in theprivate network, as connection information for the electrical appliance,wherein the detecting section detects a failure of the storage sectionin acquiring the connection information by confirming that theconnection information for an electrical appliance to which connectionfrom the mobile terminal is desired, is not stored in the storagesection.
 5. The server apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a status managing section that receives from the electricalappliance a report of successful direct connection to the mobileterminal and acquires from the mobile terminal a report of successfuldirect connection to the electrical appliance; a certificate issuingsection that, when the status managing section acquires the reports ofsuccessful direct connection from the electrical appliance and themobile terminal, issues an electronic certificate that certifies thatdirect connection to the electrical appliance and the mobile terminal ispossible; and a transmitting section that transmits the certificateissued by the certificate issuing section to the mobile terminal.
 6. Theserver apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising: a checksection that checks whether the certificate transmitted from the mobileterminal is issued by the server apparatus and whether direct connectionto an electrical appliance to which connection from the mobile terminalis desired, is possible; and a user data managing section that, when thecheck section decides that the certificate is issued by the serverapparatus and that direct connection to the electrical appliance towhich connection from the mobile terminal is desired, is possible,registers user information of a user of the mobile terminal.
 7. Aprogram that causes a computer in a server apparatus to implementfunctions of: a detecting section that detects a failure in preparationprocessing for direct connection between an electrical appliance insidea private network connected to the Internet, and a mobile terminaloutside the private network; and a reporting section that reportsinformation showing the failure detected by the detecting section to themobile terminal.